Toronto: Ralph Fiennes, Timur Bekmambetov Board 'Petersburg Carousel'

Five Russian and five international directors will each shoot films about St. Petersburg

A group of international directors, including Brit Ralph Fiennes (The Invisible Woman), American helmer Alexandre Rockwell (Pete Smalls is Dead), Estonia's Ilmar Raag (The Class) and French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch (Paris) will join forces with some of Russia's biggest names for the omnibus project Petersburg Carousel.

The compendium of 10 short films will see each director — five Russian and five international filmmakers — explore a different aspect of the historic Russian city of St. Petersburg. Each film will be named after a letter in the city's name, with each standing for an emotion: Pleasure, Effort, Trust, Envy, Repose, Shrewdness, Bravery, Uncertainty, Refuge and Glee. Petersburg Carousel, which plans to begin shooting early next year, is being shopped to buyers in Toronto.

The Russian filmmakers taking part in the project from CTB Film Company and Lenfilm StudiosincludeTimur Bekmambetov (Wanted), Fyodor Bondarchuk (Stalingrad), Dunya Smirnova (Two Days), Bakur Bakuradze (The Hunter) and Igor Voloshin (Bedouin). CTB Films said they are still in negotiations with several international directors for the film's final segment.

Several of the international filmmakers involved in the project are known Russophiles. Fiennes, who speaks Russia, next appears in Vera Glagoleva's Russian costume drama Two Women, and one of Klapisch's best-known films is the 2005 drama Russian Dolls, which shot in St. Petersburg.